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'GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL  SERVANT." 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 


ON  THK 


Life  and  Character 


OF 


to,  1 1 


IE 


y, 


LATE  PRESIDENT  OF  WAKE  FOREST  COLLEGE,  N.  C. 


Delivered  at  the  Annual  Commencement,  June  12,  1879. 


By  Rev.  F.  H.  IVEY,  of  Goldsboro. 


RALEIGH,  N.  C.  : 

KuWARDri,    BROUGliTON   &   Co, ,    PRINTERS   AXD    BiNDRRS. 

July,  1879. 


■( 


'GOOD  AND  FAITHFUL  SERVANT." 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 


ON   THE 


Life  and  Character 


OF 


n 


J 1 1     Ml    nil 


mi 


LATE  PRESIDENT  OF  WAKE  FOREST  COLLEGE,  N.  C, 


Delivered  at  the  Annual  Commencement,  June  12,  1879. 


By  Rev.  F.  H.  IVEY,  of  Goldsboro. 


RALEIGH,  N.  C. : 

Edwards,  Brottghton  &  Co.,  Printers  and  Binders. 

July,  1879. 


Memorial  Address, 


The  Scriptures  bid  us  hold  in  romerabrance  those  who 
have  kept  the  faith  and  have  finished  their  course  with  joy, 
for  our  spiritual  advantage,  that  we  may  follow  them  in 
faith  and  conversation,  and  that  we  may  still  feel  the  cur- 
rent of  their  life  in  ours. 

A  leader  and  teacher  in  our  Israel  worthy  of  such  com- 
memoration nobly  finished  his  life  course  among  us  during 
the  past  winter. 

The  frosts  of  February  have  softened  into  the  mellowing 
dews  of  June;  the  spring-flowers  have  covered  the  roughs 
ness  of  his  grave  with  their  sweet  beauty;  the  bleak  land- 
scape is  wreathed  with  blossoms  as  a  chaplet,  and  crowned 
with  green  woods  as  a  diadem  ;  the  solemn  dirge  has  died 
out  in  the  air;  the  tears  no  longer  flow  as  in  the  freshness 
of  our  sorrow— their  hour  has  passed. 

And  now  let  us  rise  up  into  that  sphere  of  faith  whpre 
memory  itself  grows  spiritual,  and  there  remember  him  who 
once  stood  at  the  head  of  our  hosts ;  who  laid  the  broad 
foundations  on  which  we  build  ;  but  who  has  passed  within 
the  vail,  and  with  unsealed  vision  views  those  realities  of 
.  which  he  spake,  and  is  "  forever  with  the  Lord." 

I  stand  here  to-day  among  the  wise  and  eloquent  of  the 
land,  to  honor  the  memory  of  this  departed  great  man  of 
our  Zion.  I  am  but  the  mouth-piece  of  this  occasion,  to 
voice  your  thought  and  feeling,  my  brethren,  in  declaring 
that  he  was  great,  and  wise,  and  strong — and  we  admired 
him  ;  that  he  was  true,  and  faithful,  and  noble — and  we 
esteemed  him ;    that  he  was  meek,  and  pure,  and   conse" 


4 


crated — and  we  reverenced  him  ;   and  that  he  was  amiable, 
and  gentle,  and  good — and  we  loved  him  ! 

God  arranges  periods  in  human  history,  and  raises  up 
men  for  His  occasions;  and  wiien  tliey  have  served  their 
generation  by  His  will,  He  calls  them  to  a  nobler  employ, 
and 

"  His  eternal  thought  moves  on 
His  undisturbed  aft'airs." 

It  is  good  to  contemplate  the  coming  into  the  world  and 
the  life  and  character  of  a  truly  great  man.  If  you  trace 
the  mightiest  river  to  its  source,  you  may  have  to  ascend 
among  "  the  everlasting  hills;  "  but  in  tracking  a  great  soul, 
you  must  rise  to  God.  The  ocean  may  seem  to  be  far  dis- 
tant, yet  it  is  the  real  parent  of  that  river  which  rises  among 
the  central  mountains;  and  true  to  its  native  source,  the 
river  finds  its  way  through  many  lands,  bles-sing  and  fer- 
tilizing them  as  it  flows,  to  its  great  original.  So  with  a 
great  soul :  We  cannot  help  seeing  that  he  comes  from  God, 
and  that  if  he  "fulfill  his  course"  among  men  for  their  up- 
lifting, according  to  the  divine  will,  he  "returns  to  God 
who  gave  him." 

We  derive  peculiar  illumination  and  benefit  from  the 
consideration  of  souls  "great  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.'' 
Tho^e  in  whom  His  idea  and  purpose  manifestly  and  mag- 
nificently appear,  reveal  us  more  fully  and  clearly  to  our- 
selves, teach  us  most  practically  and  effectively  what  is  com- 
mon to  us  all,  and  help  us  with  wiser  heart  and  truer 
purpose  to  fulfill  our  own  individual  course  and  destiny_ 
Such  a  soul  is  a  broader  mirror,  a  greater  light,  a  fuller  dis- 
pensation, in  which  other  souls  see  themselves,  and  by  which 
they  find  their  way  from  one  eternity  to  another !  Such  a 
soul  illustrates  all  other  souls — is  a  kind  of  universal  prophet 
and  interpreter  of  souls. 

I  will  not  speak  extravagantly,  and  say  that  he  whose 
memorial  we  now  observe  filled  the  measure  of  this  concep- 
tion in  that  l\igh  and  universal  sense  in  which  Moses  and 


David  and  Paul  filled  it;  but  they  are  weighed  words  which 
rank  him  with  the  very  first  and  foremost  of  such  souls 
among  our  people  in  our  day  and  generation. 

God  sets  the  signet  of  His  own  exalted  purpose  on  a  man 
when  He  raises  him  up  on  earth  for  special  divine  use  and 
service.  And  this  man  bore  celestial  credentials;  for  God 
made  a  place  for  him,  and  filled  and  fitted  him  to  fit  and 
fill  his  place ! 

Washington  Manly  Wingate  was  born  in  Darlington, 
S.  C,  on  the  22d  day  of  March,  1828,  of  a  family  of  honor- 
able traditions. 

I  allude  to  but  one  passage  in  the  history  of  his  3'outh,  as 
I  heard  it  from  his  own  lips — that  of  his  conversion,  in  the 
fourteenth  year  of  his  age.  His  experience  in  his  transi- 
tion from  death  into  the  kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son  was 
characteristic  of  the  man.  It  was  quiet,  but  deep, and  earn- 
est, and  thorough.  "When  the  palm  of  Zeilan  puts  forth 
itsi  blossom,  the  sheath  breaks  with  a  report  that  startles  the 
forest;  but  at  the  same  moment  millions  of  surrounding 
blossoms  are  opening  in  oilenee."  Some  hearts  burst  open 
at  God's  call  with  the  violence  of  the  earthquake  that  shook 
apart  the  prison-doors  at  Philippi,and  set  the  Apostles  free. 
Other  hearts  flow  open  at  the  Spirit's  touch,  as  the  buds  un- 
fold into  beauty  under  the  gentle  kiss  of  the  sunshine.  "  So 
it  was  with  our  brother:  there  was  a  still  small  voice,  and 
God  was  in  it;  there  was  the  dawning  of  spiritual  life,  and 
then  the  full  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  formed  in  his  heart 
the  hope  of  glory.  At  the  Saviour's  feet  he  bowed,  and  to 
Him  acknowledged  his  allegiance  as  his  Lord  and  his  God. 
With  such  an  introduction  into  the  kingdom  of  grace,  he 
pressed  on  for  a  generation,  with  a  holy  desire  to  apprehend 
that  for  which  also  he  was  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus. 

He  graduated  from  this  Institution  in  the  class  of  1849; 
pursued  divinity  studies  for  two  years  at  Furman  Theologi- 
cal Institution,  and  then  entered  the  pastorate  in  his  native 
State.     In  1852  he  undertook  the  agency,  and  in  I80I  was 


6 


elected  to  the  Presidency,  of  Wake  Forest  College.  Thus 
early  connected  officially  with  his  Alma  Mater,  he  walked 
lovingly  by  her  side  for  twenty-five  years,  until  the  27th  of 
February  last,  when  the  union  was  dissolved  by  death. 

Dr.  WiNGATE  came  upon  the  stage  at  a  peculiar  juncture 
in  the  history  of  this  Institution  ;  at  a  trying  period  to  the 
interests  of  higer  education  under  religious  auspices  among 
us;  and  at  a  time  when  the  Baptist  denomination  in  the 
State  needed  the  impress  of  a  great  mind  to  confirm  it  in 
the  advancing  course  on  which  it  had  just  entered.  Now, 
that  a  man  should  have  been  found  to  touch,  and  quicken, 
and  in  large  measure  guide  to  assured  success,  all  these  en- 
terprises and  interests,  proclaims  not  only  the  purity  of  his 
character  and  the  goodness  of  his  heart,  but  also  the  power 
of  his  will  and  the  greatness  of  his  intellect. 

The  College  had  struggled  long  enough  without  complete 
'  success  to  suggest  its  feilure  ;  but  it  had  stood  the  trial  suffi- 
ciently long  to  assure  its  triumph  under  the  control  of  the 
right  man  for  its  crisis.  The  dead  President  proved  to 
be  that  man.  Before  he  came  to  preside  over  the  College, 
^  i  it  felt  a  new  impulse  in  his  work  as  agent.  And  from  the 
time  that  he  occupied  his  Chair,  it  v*ent  steadily  forward, 
growing  in  influence  and  enlarging  in  its  power  for  good. 
From  1854  to  1861,  it  rose  rapidly  in  favor  with  the  masses 
of  the  people,  and  its  course  was  a  triumphal  march  under 
his  lead,  perhaps  not  surpassed  in  the  whole  history  of  our 
;  denomination. 

Dr.  WiNGATE  did  not  take  up  a  great  work  at  an  advanced 
//point  and  carry  it  on;  he  took  the  small  beginnings  and 
worked  them  out  to  large  results.  He  did  not  find  an  en- 
terprise on  the  high  road  to  prosperity,  but  he  raised  it  to 
that  eminence.  If  he  built  on  other  men's  foundations,  he 
has  reared  a  structure  grander,  nobler,  more  enduring  than 
the  foundations  promised. 

Still  greater  success,  if  possible,  than  before,  marked  his 
administration  in  the  rehabilitation  of  the  College  after  the 


desolation  and  ruin  of  war.  Amid '  discouragements  that 
might  well  have  appalled  men  of  less  persistent  purpose, 
the  friends  and  Trustees  and  Professors  of  this  Institution 
have  held  on  their  way  with  a  faith  and  a  constancy  to  a 
great  cause,  and  a  spirit  of  self-abnegation  which  have  won 
the  victory  against  seeming  impossibilities;  and  central 
among  them  all  stood  the  courageous,  heroic  Wingate  ! 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  toils  and  sacrifices  of  the  noble 
men,  living  and  dead,  whose  devotion  and  labors  made  the 
beloved  Wingate 's  grand  success  a  possibility.  No  man 
ever  had  a  band  of  truer,  more  loving,  s3'-mpathizing  co- 
adjutors than  did  he.  And  no  institution  has,  or  has  had, 
a  more  competent,  faithful  and  worthy  corps  of  instructors 
than  Wake  Forest  College.  Much  of  the  honor  of  what  has 
been  done  belongs  to  them.  But  there  is  not  a  man  among 
them  all  who  is  not  too  much  like  Wingate  to  grudge  the 
due  meed  of  praise  to  their  fallen  chief.  Blessed  are  ye, 
brethren,  who  have  lighted  up  with  the  sunshine  of  your 
sympathy  the  dark  hours  of  your  leader's  depression  ! 
Blessed  are  ye,  whose  hands  have  woven  the  threads  of  your 
own  love  into  the  woof  of  his  struggling  life!  Blessed  are 
ye,  who  have  borne  with  him  the  heat  and  burden  of  the 
day!  The  outpouring  of  the  people's  grateful  tribute  to 
him  is  the  assurance  of  their  warm  affection  for  you  ! 

Time  and  again  has  it  been  said  that  Dr.  Wingate  did  his 
work,  and  did  it  well,  and  did  not  die  before  his  time,  but 
was  gathered  to  his  reward  like  as  a  shock  of  corn  cometh 
in  its  season. 

Any  just  summary  of  this  work  would  cover  the  history 
and  mark  the  progress  of  the  Baptists  of  North  Carolina  for 
the  last  twenty-five  years.  But  here,  here  is  his  lasting  mon- 
ument: "He  leaves  the  College,  the  object  of  his  earnest 
prayers  and  life-long  labors,  at  the  flood-tide  of  success." 
Amid  the  general  gloom,  we  rejoice  in  the  fruits  of  his  labors 
already  realized,  and  in  the  promise  of  the  coming  harvest. 
"  TuLLY  acknowledged  the  transports  which  he  felt  when 


8 

he  saw  the  laurel  groves  where  Plato  held  his  disputations, 

and  the  porticoes  at  Athens  where  Socrates  had  taught." 

And,  through  the  achievements  of  him  whose  name  is  forever 

linked  with  the  prosperity  of  this  Institution,  and  whose 

memory  will  long  linger  among  these  cherished  scenes  of 

his  triumph,  we,  too,  may  repeat  the  joyous  salutation  : 

"  Thrice  happy  ye,  whose  walls  alread}^  rise." 

I      And  Dr.  Wingate's  successful  work  here  was  widely  felt 

^  I  in  general  educational  movements  in  the  State.     He  exerted 

an  untold  influence  through  the  representative  young  men 

whose   characters   he   largely  moulded,  as  the   preachers, 

teachers,  lawyers  and  statesmen  of  the  land.     That  influ- 

'     ence  was  wholly  conservative — it  was  altogether  for  good. 

In  general  meetings,  also,  and  in  other  ways,  he  was  in 
frequent  and  extended  contact  with  the  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple. And  he  has  so  impressed  himself  upon  the  denomina- 
tion as  to  give  it  a  mighty  forward  impulse,  which  is  felt  in 
all  its  activities,  and  which,  if  true  to  its  high  mission,  it 
need  not  lose. 

But  he  belonged  not  to  his  own  people  merely.  He  was 
a  man  of  catholic  spirit,  and  belonged  to  mankind  ;  and  the 
world  is  better  and  wiser  for  his  having  lived  in  it. 

What,  then,  were  the  qualities  of  head  and  heart  that  dis- 
tinguished our  brother — that  raised  him  above  the  plane  of 
plodding  life,  gave  him  a  controlling  influence  among  men, 
and  enabled  him  to  serve  his  generation  so  wisely  and  so 
well  ? 

I  feel  the  difficulty  of  presenting  a  just  portraiture  of  this 
many-sided  man.  The  complicated  relations  of  the  position 
he  filled,  his  varied  labors  in  all  these  relations,  and  his 
usefulness  and  success  in  them  all,  is  but  the  expression  of 
the  versatile  powers  of  his  mind,  and  the  stamp  of  the  true 
greatness  of  his  intellect."  As  the  facets  of  the  diamond 
throw  back  different  flashes  to  the  .sun,  each  with  a  singular 
glory,  so  there  was  in  him  some  aspect  of  character  from 
which  light  radiated  over  every  matter  within  his  extended 


9 


field  of  labor.  His  was  a  mind  of  astonishing  fullness  and 
beauty.  There  was  an  abundance,  almost  a  profusion,  of 
acquired  intellectual  wealth  in  some  departments,  with  which 
he  was  not  always  credited.  lie  had  a  mental  vigor,  a 
warmth  of  feeling  and  a  devotion  of  purpose  which  the  mild 
and  patient  man  did  not  usually  bespeak. 

He  wa5  strong  in  the  beautiful  symmetry  of  his  lovely 
character.  There  was  no  one-sidedness  about  him.  He  was 
too  earnest  and  sincere  for  an3^thing  eccentric  or  sensational. 
There  was  no  gigantic  development  in  one  direction  at 
the  expense  of  growth  in  another.  He  was  firm,  but  not 
harsh ;  compassionate,  but  not  weak  ;  zealous,  but  not  fanat- 
ical; prudent,  but  not  compromising  of  the  truth.  He 
blended  the  gentleness  and  purity  of  a  woman  and  the  j 
strength  and  dignity  of  manhood.  He  was  a  completely 
balanced,  full-orbed,  rounded,  symmetrical  man. 

He  was  singularly  unambitious,  and  modest,  even  to  a 
fault,  if  modesty  be  a  fault  in  these  days  when  prominence 
is  mistaken  for  eminence  and  gilding  for  gold.  "  There 
were,"  saj'-s  one  who  knew  him  well,  "  deep  volcanic  fires 
burning  in  his  soul,  which  he  knew  wtti  how  to  repress." 
A  superficial  observer  might  have  said  that  they  did  not 
burn  at  all,  so  closely  were  they  kept  covered  in.  "  I  have 
always  been  struck,"  says  Dr.  Wayland,  "  with  the  remark 
of  one  of  the  Italian  masters,  who,  when  a  work  of  an  earlier 
artist  was  spoken  of  with  servile  adoration,  turned  away  and 
said,  '  I  too  am  a  painter.'  "  How  often  this  master  might 
have  felt  the  same  sentiment,  and  how  often  his  brethren, 
perhaps,  have  felt  it  for  him,  as  mediocrity  has  been  mag- 
nified into  greatness,  and  greatness  passed  unnoticed.  Yet 
no  one  was  ever  freer  from  such  a  thought  and  such  a 
spirit.  He  was  alive  to  all  that  was  commendable  in  others,  i 
and  seemed  to  be  oblivious  of  all  that  w^as  great  and  noble  (\ 
in  himself.  He  w^as  self-denying,  upright,  and  transparently 
honest,  wdth  a  christian  character  without  a  stain  and  above 
a  suspicion.     He  formed  a  charitable  judgment  of  all  dis- 


10 


puted  points  in  men  and  systems,  and  was  just  before  he 
was  generous ;  and  then  completed  the  circle  by  being  gen- 
erous as  well  as  just. 

Open-hearted  and  simple  as  a  child,  he  was  like  his  di- 
vine Lord  in  the  humility  of  his  mind.  But  in  his  humil- 
ity doubtless  he  remembered  not  only  that  the  dead  can 
speak,  but  that  sometimes  a  voice  increases  in  voTume,  and 
richness,  and  sweetness,  by  death.  While  living,  perhaps 
he  regarded  the  intense  homage  and  affection  of  his  breth- 
ren, and  the  real  quickening  influence  which  he  exerted,  as 
more  than  compensating  for  the  absence  of  that  showy  but 
meretricious  fame  which  is  the  reward  of  self-seekino-  men. 

And  so  he  was  content,  as  Carlyle  says,  to  plant  upon  the 
infinite  possibilities  of  the  immortal  minds  under  his  guid- 
ance; and  his  reward  shall  be  sure — the  ages  will  return 
the  harvest. 

You  will  be  glad  for  me  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  this  ad- 
dress by  short  extracts  from  the  glowing  tributes  of  others. 

Dr.  Wm.  Royall  writes:  "For  ten  years  I  had  the  privi- 
lege of  associating  intimately  with  him.  How  often  have  I 
left  his  presence  feeling  that  if  I  had  his  quiet,  self-possessed 
spirit,  I  would  give  all  I  had.  How  often  has  my  impetu- 
osity been  rebuked  by  that  calm,  unmoved  exterior  and 
tone.  How  I  felt  that  that  calmness  was  but  the  evidence 
of  a  self-mastery  which  no  other  man  of  my  acquaintance 
possessed.  I  felt  that  he  was  so  safe,  so  true  a  guide,  because 
he  never  expressed  an  oj)inion  or  gave  advice  that  I  did 
not  find  after  the  storm  had  subsided  was  just  such  as  I 
would  myself  have  given  had  there  been  no  tempest  in  my 
soul.  He  must  certainly  have  been  under  the  dominion  of 
some  lofty  principle  which  the  most  of  us  cannot  discern 
from  our  lowly  position.  I  cannot  now  speak  of  his  genius, 
his  transcendent  and  almost  unrivalled  power  of  analysis. 
I  am  lost  in  that  power  of  powers  Avhich  I  have  never  seen 
in  any  other  man  to  the  same  extent :  the  power  of  reach- 
ing conclusions  through  mists  and  fogs   of  pros  and  cons, 


11 

and  of  acting  on  them  when  reached  with  full  assurance  of 
their  correctness.  I  always  felt  that  to  leave  a  matter  of 
doubt  in  his  liands  involved  the  necessity  of  making  up  my 
mind  to  do  exactly  right  in  the  premises." 

Dr.  J.  D.  HuFHAM  says :  "We  have  lost  the  greatest  man 
we  had  among  us.  For  twenty-five  years  he  was  the  central 
figure,  the  greatest  power  of  the  North  Carolina  Baptists. 
He  had  a  vigorous,  comprehensive  and  subtle  intellect.  In 
law,  or  statesmanship,  or  any  of  the  professions  which  re- 
quire the  knowledge  and  management  of  men,  he  would 
have  risen  to  eminence.  He  was  a  great  moral  philosopher, 
a  great  preacher,  the  best  I  have  ever  heard,  and  a  wise  and 
successful  pastor.  He  ruled  the  boys  through  their  respect 
for  him  and  their  faith  in  him.  He  was  a  brave  man,  a 
true  man ;  still  he  was  gentle  and  tender  as  a  woman." 

Dr.  Thos.  E.  Skinner  writes:  "His  presence  always 
charmed  me ;  his  genius  fired  me ;  his  guileless  spirit  both 
rebuked  and  instructed  me;  his  gentleness  tamed  me;  his 
aff'ection  unmanned  me  ;  and  his  memory  is  precious.  The 
Bible  was  this  man's  book.  He  was  mighty  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. He  was  familiar  with  its  facts,  he  understood  its  doc- 
trines, he  was  literally  inspired  with  its  spirit.  His  affec- 
tions were  well-nigh  universal  in  their  outgoings.  AVhom 
did  the  man  not  love  ? — if  not  complacently,  then  most  com- 
passionately. He  was  the  best  man  I  ever  knew.  I  never 
tried  to  love  him  ;  he  drew  me  as  with  the  cords  of  iron — 
he  compelled  me  to  love  him.  His  christian  life,  free  from 
stain,  ever  gave  forth  the  fragrance  of  the  love  of  God." 

And  Dr.  Thos.  H.  Pritchard  thus  speaks  of  him  :  "His 
mental  characteristics  admirably  qualified  him  for  impart- 
ing instruction  in  moral  and  intellectual  science,  and  he 
greatly  excelled  as  a  disciplinarian.  During  his  long  Pres- 
idency, the  moral  character  of  the  students  of  Wake  Forest 
College  has  been  of  a  higher  tone  than  that  of  any  similar 
institution  known  to  me  in  America.  The  crowning  glory 
of  the  man  was  his  piety.     He  was  the  sweetest  saint  I  have 


12 


ever  known.  Like  his  divine  master,  he  was  meek  and 
lowly  in  heart.  I  have  seen  him  many  times  worried  and 
troubled  and  in  perplexity,  but  I  never  saw  him  manifest  a 
fretful  and  impatient  spirit,  or  heard  him  utter  a  petulant 
or  angry  word.  Never  have  I  seen  combined  in  any  hu- 
man being  so  much  child-like  simplicity  of  heart  with  such 
lofty  powers  of  intellect." 

Dr.  WiNGATE  was  largely  identified  with  general  denom- 
inational interests.  His  whole  life  was  a  plea  for  higher  re- 
ligious and  ministerial  education.  Every  good  work  found 
in  him  a  ready  advocate  and  helper.  He  loved  the  cause  of 
missions  because  he  believed  it  was  the  cause  of  Christ;  and 
never  did  I  know  him  to  let  an  opportunity  pass,  in  Asso- 
ciation or  Convention,  without  speaking  an  earnest  word  in 
behalf  of  lost  souls  around  us,  and  earth's  j)erishing  millions 
be3^ond. 

The  struggling  young  man  found  in  him  a  sym- 
j^athizing  friend,  and  the  poor  young  preacher,  a  benefactor 
whose  aid  was  doubh^  grateful,  in  its  well-timed  opportunity, 
and  the  delicacy  with  which  it  was  tendered. 

Such  was  the  sincerity  of  his  affections,  that  he  made 
every  one  who  knew  him  intimately,  feel  that  he  was,  espe- 
cially and  peculiarly,  his  personal  friend.  Nor  was  any 
such  one  mistaken :  for  he  never  betrayed  the  confidence  of 
a  single  human  being.  He  was  approachable  and  affable 
at  all  times;  and  no  one  ever  heard  him  utter  a  word  con- 
cerning an  absent  person,  that  he  might  not  have  spoken  in 
that  person's  presence,  and  for  his  pleasure.  The  mother 
who  bore  him  never  saw  him  angry  but  once,  and  that  only 
proved  that  he  belonged  to  a  fallen,  sinful  race. 

In  social  life,  he  was  a  most  entertaining  companion,  with 
a  flow  of  genial  humor  that  was  the  index  of  the  kind  emo- 
tions of  his  heart.  Interesting  whenever  or  however  encoun- 
tered, if  he  was  not  a  great  talker,  like  Coleridge,  still  one 
could  listen  with  real  pleasure  and  profit,  while  his  lesser 
golden  Pactolus  rolled  on.  You  met  him  with  joy,  and  left 
him  with  regret. 


II 


I  need  not  entor  the  sanctuary  of  his  domestic  life, 
and  tell  you  that  between  husband  and  wife,  father 
and  children,  there  was  the  per})ctual  reign  of  gen- 
tleness and  peace,  kindness,  tenderness  and  love.  With 
such  a  husband  and  father  it  could  not  have  been  other- 
wise. There  are  hearts  that  know  these  things.  May  God 
comfort  them  in  tlieir  irreparable  loss,  and  may  their  paths 
be  brightened  with  the  blessings  coming  upon  them  in  an- 
swer to  his  lingering  prayer ! 

But,  brethren,  while  there  are  inviting  fields  still  un- 
touched before  me,  I  feel  that  it  is  time  I  had  turned  to  speak 
of  our  brother  as  a  Preacher.  And  here  I  seem  to  be 
standing  in  a  different  presence,  and  contemplating  the 
greatness,  and  gifts  and  graces,  of  another  man.  Who  has 
formed  a  just  conception  of  W.  M.  Wingate  as  a  preacher? 

AVith  a  rich  A'ocabulary,  a  fine  ear  for  the  cadence  of  sen- 
tences, great  facility  of  utterance,  a  sjanpathetic  nature  that 
answered  quickly  to  the  kindling  of  his  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings, and  a  heart  that  was  full  of  his  great  message,  and 
eager  to  speak  it,  he  was  amply  endowed  for  his  glorious 
mission. 

Through  his  whole  course  he  exercised  his  ministry  :  as 
pastor  of  the  College  church,  and  of  the  churches  in  Oxford, 
Franklinton,  Selma,  and  other  places  ;  and  at  Conventions, 
Associations,  in  agency  work,  and  revival  meetings,  and  in 
occasional  and  special  appointments.  At  the  late  session  of 
the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  in  Atlanta,  the  President 
of  that  body  simply  announced  that  the  brother  appointed 
to  preach  the  Convention  Sermon  "  had  gone  to  glory,"  and 
that  another  would  take  his  place.  There  are  but  few  of 
our  pulpits  from  which  he  has  not  proclaimed  the  word 
of  life.  And  so,  from  his  abundant  labors  in  the  ministry, 
he  was  probably  better  known  among  the  people  as  a 
preacher  than  as  a  College  President. 

His  style  of  discourse  was  of  that  kind  which  draws  strik- 
ing sketches  :  you  would  not  say  that  it  flowed  like  a  river, 


14 


but  was  like  the  dew,  clearly  flashing  back  and  reflecting 
the  light,  often  prismatic  in  its  splendor,  every  rich  dia- 
mond-drop independent  and  complete  in  itself,  twinkling 
on  the  grass  or  on  the  leaf ;  yet  all  forming  a  beautiful 
unity,  in  one  grand,  refreshing  shower.  He  remembered 
that  it  is  written :  "  My  doctrine  shall  drop  as  the  dew  ;" 
and  from  his  lips  it  had  the  power  of  the  dev/.  Most  of  us 
aim  to  resemble  the  broad  flowing  river;  it  is  so  attractive 
to  the  eye,  and  will  bear  so  many  things  upon  its  bosom. 
But  it  takes  a  remarkably  fresh  and  healthful  mind  to  enjoy 
the  dewy  morning  and  evening  time;  and  to  Dr.  Wingate's 
unusually  pure  and  open  nature  this  style  of  preaching  was 
most  congenial. 

If  not  a  "  master  of  assemblies,"  he  certainly  was  a  master 
of  hearts.  His  words  were  quick  and  powerful,  life-giving, 
and  soul-pervading  in  a  very  eminent  degree.  He  w^as  a 
seer  essentially  ;  he  threw  out  jets  of  truth  which  were  ger* 
minal,  and  which  became  central  flames  and  lights.  "  He 
pictured  it  all  out  so  plainly,"  said  the  hearer.  But  did 
ever  preacher  picture  it  all  out  plainly,  who  had  not  first 
pictured  it  all  wi  laboriously  ?  He  drew  pictures  in  his  own 
mind  with  the  facility  of  a  true  artist;  and  in  the  light  pro* 
duced  by  the  glow  of  his  own  thought,  he  transferred  them 
to  the  canvass  of  other  minds  with  the  hand  of  a  master. 
The  very  frame-work  of  these  mental  pictures  was  often  a 
piece  executed  with  as  much  skill  as  the  gem  of  which  it 
was  the  setting ;  and  this  rare  power  of  representation  in- 
vested his  style  with  a  wondrous  fascination. 

Of  this  power  Dr.  A.  McDowell  writes  thus  :  "  His  high* 
est  talent  consisted  in  the  rapid  sketching  of  outline  pic- 
tures, dwelling  on  one  just  long  enough  to  make  the  outline 
distinct,  and  then  passing  on  to  another.  Each  of  these 
pictures  illustrated  an  important  truth,  and  left  it  indelibly 
impressed  upon  the  mind." 

And  so  his  sermons  were  rich  in  poetical  lily-work,  and 
carvings,  and  images — now  like  an  acanthus  on  a  pillar, 


15 


now  like  a  stained  glass  in  a  recess.  Thus  he  was  pre-emi* 
nent  as  a  suggestive  preacher,  and  his  ministry  was  as 
profitable  in  the  quickened  thought  of  the  hearer  as  in  the 
instruction  actually  imparted.  Because  of  this  happy  en- 
dowment he  was,  as  another  has  said,  "  a  preacher  whose 
ministry  was  ever  as  acceptable  to  the  untutored  hearer  as 
to  the  highly  educated." 

He  was  especially  gifted  in  realizing  into  vivid  pictures 
the  incidents  in  the  life  of  our  Lord.  He  was  so  constantly 
with  Jesus  in  His  midnight  praying  and  noonday  work,  at 
Simon's  board,  on  Peter's  boat,  under  Mary's :  oof,  amid  the 
lowly  scenes  of  Bethlehem  and  the  busy  scenes  of  Jerusalem, 
among  the  poor,  by  the  couch  of  the  sick,  at  the  tomb  of 
Lazarus,  in  Gethsemane,  before  Pilate's  bar,  and  at  the  place 
of  skulls — so  constantly  with  Jesus  in  all  His  travail  here 
below — that  he  drank  deeply  of  His  Spirit,  had  His  mind, 
caught  the  impress  of  His  character,  and  diffused  the  aroma 
of  His  presence.  He  walked  abroad  in  the  avenues  of  the 
Scriptures  as  in  familiar  paths.  He  examined  and  enjoyed 
the  "  old,  old  story  "  in  a  way  that  brought  him  nearer  to 
God  ;  and  then  he  wisely  used  the  evangelical  narrative  to 
domesticate  the  gospel  in  the  souls  of  his  hearers- — making 
the  dignified  truth  affable,  but  leaving  it  still  dignified. 

He  was  attractively  fresh,  profound,  and  strikingly  origi- 
nal in  his  presentation  of  sacred  truth.  And  his  exposi- 
tions seemed  as  near  the  mind  of  the  divine  Spirit  as  they 
were  new  and  joyful  to  the  hearer.  He  drew  exhaustless 
treasures  of  spiritual  wealth  from  the  inexhaustible  mine  of 
Holy  Writ.  Permit  me  to  cite  an  instance  :  The  last  time 
I  ever  heard  him  preach  in  this  Chapel,  was  on  a  Sabbath 
evening,  "in  a  short  talk,"  he  said,  supplemental  to  the 
morning  discourse,  which  had  been  delivered  by  another, 
on  the  love  of  Christ.  The  preacher  of  the  morning  had 
presented  the  fruits  of  long  and  earnest  thought,  and  care- 
ful preparation.  But,  oh,  it  was  an  inspiration,  a  grace,  a 
joy,  to  hear  the  loved  disciple  take  up  the  lofty  theme  of 


16 

Jesus'  love,  and  tell  what  it  was,  and  what  it  was  not:  not 
the  sultry  fervor  of  a  tropical  passion  ;  not  the  measured 
equivalents  of  common  love;  not  the  elective  affinities  of 
moral  and  esthetic  love;  not  the  ecstatic  rapture  of  love 
rejoicing  in  the  eciioes  which  it  has  itself  awakened,  and 
singing  to  the  heart  that  sings  back  to  it ; — but  the  simple 
love  of  Christ  to  sinful  souls — suffering,  re-creating,  glorif^'- 
ing,  saving  love ! 

It  has  been  suggested  that  brother  AVingate  never  at- 
tained the  full  measure  of  his  power  as  a  preacher,  on 
account  of  physical  infirmities.  But  how  could  he  have 
been  greater  as  a  herald  of  the  cross  ?  And  had  he  been  a 
strong,  sound  man  bodily,  would  he  ever  have  attained  such 
eminence  as  a  gentle,  sweet,  sympathizing  bearer  of  the  glad 
tidings  ?  Tell  me,  ye  reeds  shaken  by  the  tempest,  who  know, 
was  ever  the  gospel  preached  in  all  its  fullness  and  power, 
except  by  men  in  prison,  men  with  a  thorn  in  the  flesh — 
men  under  bonds  of  some  sort  or  other  ?  Paul,  guarded  by 
a  Roman  sentinel,  penned  some  of  his  noble  epistles,  and 
enjoyed  some  of  his  sweetest  experiences.  His  body  in 
cliains,  his  s[)irit  was  as  free,  as  sanguine,  as  soaring  as  ever. 
He  turned  his  dungeon  into  a  fort,  from  which  he  hurled 
his  most  effective  weapons.  He  made  his  cell  his  study, 
where  he  sung  at  midnight,  and  where  he  wrote  the  immor- 
tal doctrines  through  the  day.  Through  those  grated  win- 
dows he  shouted  out  the  good  news  until  their  iron  bars 
vibrated  with  the  inspired  message,  like  JEolian  harps 
touched  by  the  breath  of  heaven.  His  weakness  was  made 
strong  until  the  old  Roman  bastile  became  instinct  with  the 
life  of  God,  and  seemed  lifted  from  its  firm  foundations  by 
the  divine  hand,  and  swung  through  the  earth  like  a  golden 
censer,  until  the  world  was  blessed  with  the  sweet  incense 
of  eternal  truth  ! 

And  so  our  brother  was  an  ambassador  in  bonds.  He 
was  a  feeble,  suffering  man — a  nervous,  quivering,  aspen- 
leaf  of  a  man.     As  he  pressed  on   in  his  high   calling,  the 


17 


casements  of  the  clay  tabernacle  often  shook  ;  the  frail  sur- 
roundings rattled  in  the  wind;  the  mere  accidents  of  the 
tenement  were  unsteady.  But  the  inner  man  was  renewed 
day  by  day  ;  the  emptying  spring  was  constantly  filled  from 

"  Siloali's  brook  tlut  flow'd 
Fast  by  the  oracle  of  God." 

And  when  he  was  weak,  then  was  he  strong.  The  house 
of  his  christian  manhood  was  built  on  the  Rock  Christ 
Jesus,  and  supported  by  the  firm,  eternal  girders  of  Right- 
eousness and  Truth  ;  and  it  did  not  fall,  it  did  not  tremble, 
while  he  delivered  his  message  with  a  surpassing  pathos 
and  power  that  kindled  the  energies  of  holy  love  in  many  a 
deathless  mind  ! 

To  him  the  work  was  so  delightful,  so  rich  in  its  consola- 
tions, that  he  asked  no  higher  vocation,  no  other  joy  here 
below,  than  to  cry  : 

"Behold,  behold  the  Lamb  !  " 

In  this  he  was  truly  wnse ;  and  he  will  live  in  our  memo- 
ries as  a  preacher  when  other  recollections  of  him  have 
faded  away.  As  a  Preacher  I  would,  if  I  could,  embalm 
him  for  immortality  !  How  often  have  we  seen  him,  in  the 
glow  and  rapture  of  lofty  discourse — the  towering  physical 
man  a  symbol  of  the  gigantic  intellectual  man,  and  the 
posture  of  his  body  suggestive  of  his  spiritual  attitude — 
reaching  after,  grasping,  bringing  down,  the  great  things  of 
God,  of  the  soul,  and  of  heaven,  and  embodying  them  in 
burning  words,  crisp  and  sparkling,  that  went  bounding, 
leaping,  ricochetting,  into  the  minds  of  those  who  heard, 
and  into  the  hearts  of  those  who  loved,  the  truth  !  How  he 
threw  upward  from  this  low  earth  a  new  light  over  all  the 
high  things  of  immensity  and  eternity — making  Christ 
more  precious,  and  God  more  glorious,  and  heaven  more 
alluring  to  the  soul !  Oh,  how  he  could  take  the  old  truths, 
which,  embalined  in  our  scholastic  theology,  are  charmless 


18 


skeletons,  and  speak  them  into  christian  life,  and  present 
them  to  us  as  seraphs  from  the  skies,  to  wipe  away  our  tears, 
to  bear  our  burdens,  to  sing  sweet  songs  at  ovv  death-bed,  to 
pour  light  through  our  graves,  and  to  lift  us  on  their 
friendly  wings  to  our  celestial  home! 

I  know  not  that  we  have  left  us  in  permanent  form  any 
of  those  stirring  sermons  that  so  touched  and  thrilled  our 
hearts.  Perhaps  we  need  not  lament  the  fact.  They  were 
not  designed  to  be  read, but  to  be  heard.  You  cannot  know, 
from  the  cold  casting,  what  a  flashing  glory  was  thrown 
over  all  the  blackness  of  the  furnace  when  the  molten 
metal  was  drawn  out,  and  flowed  in  a  golden,  scintillating 
stream  into  the  ready  mould  !  You  cannot  judge,  from  the 
solid  lava,  even  though  the  fissures  in  it  may  reveal  the 
burning  deeps,  what  was  its  grandeur  when  it  came  fused 
and  glowing  from  the  fiery  throat  of  the  volcano.  And  so 
no  printed  memorials  of  those  liquid,  silvery  streams  of 
sanctified  thought  could  convey  to  the  reader  a  true  con- 
ception of  how  grand  the  preacher  was,  as  his  great  soul, 
instinct  with  holy  feeling,  lightened  and  thundered  the 
truth  on  his  hearers.  His  theme  absorbed  him.  He  seemed 
to  have  divine  illumination.  He  identified  the  Scripture  as 
of  the  present  moment.  He  drew  the  mighty  future  to 
the  threshold  of  to-day;  and  made  eternal  realities  present 
and  manifest  among  men !  He  stood  on  the  mountain- 
peaks  of  revelation,  as  though  he  would  hail  the  far-off 
watchers  on  the  confines  of  his  Father's  empire ;  and  he 
enjoyed  views  of  heights  and  depths  and  expanse  beyond, 
to  which  men  of  ordinary  stature  never  attained.  There 
were  no  clouds  hiding  from  him  the  vast  concerns  of  the 
unseen  world.  He  did  his  work  for  that  eternity  towards 
which  he  travelled  with  its  surpassing  glory  full  in  view. 
He  was  a  watchman  on  the  walls  of  Zion ;  he  was  a  sentinel 
at  the  advanced  post  of  duty ;  he  was  a  leader  in  the  very 
fore-front  of  the  battle;  and  he  stood  in  the  realized  pres- 
ence of  the  Infinite  Majesty,  and  delivered  his  message  in 


OJECT 

19 

the  spirit  of  Elijah  when  he  declared  before  the  impious 
King,  "  thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  before  whom  I 
stand  !  " 

I  cannot  now  enter  upon  a  presentation  of  his  doctrinal 
views ;  how  he  magnified  the  Scriptures,  and  held  firmly  to 
their  inspiration,  and  their  binding  authority  ;  how  he  was 
sound  in  the  faith,  and  believed  in  and  taught  the  great 
doctrines  of  grace. 

But  I  must  linger  a  moment  longer  to  say  that  he  was  a 
man  of  prayer;  and  a  man  of  mighty  faith ;  that  faith 
which  is  the  organ  of  the  spiritual  life ;  that  faith  which 
makes  the  night  seem  shorter,  if  it  does  not  make  the  sun 
rise  sooner;  that  rare  faith  to  which 

"is  given 
The  instinct  tliat  can  tell 
That  God  is  on  the  field  wlien  He 
Is  most  invisible." 

That  faith  which  supports  us  in  the  day  of  trial  and  pre- 
pares us  for  the  day  of  revelation  ; 

"  That  faith  that  keeps  the  narrow  way 

Till  life's  last  hour  is  fled. 
And  witii  a  pure  and  heavenly  ray 

Lights  up  a  dying  bed." 

And  that  faith  which  made  the  "darkened  cloud  withdraw" 
from  before  his  vision,  and,  in  some  of  his  own  last  words 
made  the  sun  to  "shine  all  the  way  up  to  heaven,"  while 
his  face  beamed  brightly  all  that  day,  the  last  and  happiest 
of  his  life. 

"Drop  the  veil  now,"  say  ye,  "over  that  closing  scene" 
Oh,  no;  lift  the  veil,  and  gaze  steadfastly, and  see  the  salva- 
tion of  the  Lord  !  Listen  to  the  Master,  saying  to  his  waiting 
servant,  "you  have  been  teaching  men  all  your  life  how 
they  ought  to  live ;  now  teach  them  how  to  die."  The  death 
chamber  is  full  of  light,  and  God  reveals  before  us  some- 
thing unutterably  solemn  and  beautiful,  when  the  spirit  of 


20 


a  dying  saint  preaches  such  sermons  as  his  spirit  preached — ■ 
praying  the  fainting  flesh  to  obey  its  heavenly  mandates, 
and  win  the  last  touch  of  its  divine  completeness  out  of  the 
very  remnants  of  decay. 

The  revelations  of  the  spirit  of  this  fainting,  falling  soldier 
of  Jesus  were  so  beautiful,  so  heavenly,  that  the  weary, 
paling  flesh  seemed  to  catch  some  golden  touches  of  the 
glory  that  w^as  within.  It  was  a  blessed  sight  to  see  the 
brave  contender  for  the  faith  putting  on  anew,  over  his 
broken  armor,  when  he  could  fight  no  more  in  his  Master's 
battles,  the  robe  of  humility,  gentleness  and  endurance, 
which  he  only  gathered  more  tightly  round  him  as  he  laid 
him  down  to  die  ! 

And  is  he  dead  ?  Nay,  my  brethren  !  He  has  passed 
from  one  apartment,  where  gathering  shades  are  falling, 
into  another,  where  invited  guests  are  assembling,  and  where 
earth's  jewel-souls  are  welcomed  to  light  and  music  and  song, 
with  "  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads  !" 

Unto  his  fellowship  in  glory  we  hope  to  be  uplifted,  to 
join  him  in  praises  in  that  great  congregation  "  into  w^hich 
an  enemy  never  enters,  and  from  which  a  friend  cannot  de- 
part." 

Ye  saints  and  angels  of  the  Lord,  crowd  the  pearly  por- 
tals to  hail  him  w^elcome  home  !  Wave  the  green  palm  for 
joy  that  he  is  more  than  conqueror  through  Him  that  hath 
loved  him  !  Ready  ministers,  bow^  and  loose  the  dusty  san- 
dals from  his  feet !  Oh,  Lamb  !  in  the  midst  of  the  throne, 
feed  him  evermore,  and  lead  him  forth  to  fountains  of  living- 
waters,  and  wipe  away  all  tears  from  his  eyes !  Give  him 
thy  hand,  Armstrong,  as  he  enters  the  glory -gate  I  O, 
Wait,  make  room  for  him  by  thy  side !  Meredith,  Mc- 
Daniel,  John  L.  Prichard,  greet  the  faithful  toiler,  with 
his  sheaves  from  the  vineyard  ! 

Sainted  brother,  take  thy  seat  among  these  glorified 
worthies — a  sceptered,  crowhed,  white-robed  Elder  of 
Eternity  ! 


